Photoshop is my Life

In my graphic design class, we  use Photoshop quite a bit. However, though I know this program quite well, I never originally used it for photo editing (that came later). I used it for digital painting, which is a whole new realm of illustration, where you "paint" with a mouse or tablet on the computer. You can see these in game designs and concepts for company works.

 Work like this is the end result of digital painting. It is such a malleable new technology that it has changed the way we look at digital art.

Digital painting can also be used in a sense of fine arts. Most of the things I know about photoshop never stemmed from editing photos. It grew from illustrating digitally, looking up step by step tutorials from experts online.

www.deviantart.com is a very valuable place for finding these said tutorials, like the one below. If you want to learn more about photoshop, or perhaps take an interest in digital painting, then I would highly recommend trying it out, and visiting deviantart, viewing all of the different styles and techniques there are to offer.

Pictures from google an deviantart

It Won't Sink the Titanic but...

For one of our first projects in my graphic design class, we were assigned a logo project. Find or make up a restaurant name, and design a logo for that restaurant. Now, logos aren't exactly my thing. Finding that visual figure ground, clever visual was never something I could wrap my head around. That being said, I decided to find a literal sounding name to represent.

It was then I came cross the Icebergs restaurant. Nice enough place, with a horrendous logo. Perfect. I started on concepts, when I realized there was an extreme lack of correlation in the aspects of my design.

A) This place was called Icebergs. What did they serve? If you guessed traditional Italian, you're insane, but right.
B) This restaurant is in Sydney, Australia. Yeah.

This was possible the weirdest set of parameters for designing a restaurant logo. However, after 1000 pages of concepts (exaggeration, I'm lazy) I came up with this.

And then I made these.

Overall, though it was frustrating, I realized that sometimes the original concept is the best/easiest to go with. Trying to communicate too many messages at once is both foolish and impossible. So basically, I learned to keep it simple...stupid.

First World Problem #1

Alright, boys and girls, today we have something a little different. Yes, we have a first world problem. I went to to the local drug store to buy conditioner, went home to use it...and it was shampoo. Naturally. Now normally I would have blamed myself, had it been an honest mistake. However, when I looked at each of the bottles in a sea of shampoos and conditioners, I realized that they look the same, save for one is upside down. The size, label, colour, everything is the same.

pictures 
To someone like me, who just grabs things according to colour and label distinction, this is somewhat frustrating. This is also the second time this has happened to me. The last time was with herbal essences, I thought I was buying conditioner, and when I brought it home, it was a 2 in 1. It had the exact same label, colour and orientation on the bottle as the regular conditioner, save for the microscopic sized "Shampoo and Conditioner" under the label. As designers, we should be able to communicate to an audience what the product is quickly, or in some way that the people shopping for the product can tell it is different somehow. Making the label a pastel blue instead of a deep blue, or making the bottle a different shape. Putting it in a different kind of bottle, perhaps (clear vs opaque).

Herbal essences had a system where the two bottles would fit together, and were easily distinguishable from each other.

This is a much better system for telling them apart. You could walk by, and without a second thought, grab one or the other. And that concludes this first world problem rant. Now the weather.

pictures  from google

Get Your MAC On

Today I noticed that MAC cosmetics has a new collection line out, called Marilyn Monroe, based off of the shades that the diva wore back in the day. It got me thinking that MAC has a strong brand simply because they are constantly coming out with new lines of products, with many different themes, colours, "limited edition" versions of previous lines, etc. They cause a wide demand when they have limited time collections, and hardcore makeup enthusiasts will pay an arm and a leg to get them. But why?

Easy. Mac uses the "only here for a limited time" line to get women to flock to their stores to pick up the latest lines of cosmetics, and then when they're gone, and those same women want those shades again, they have "comeback" lines where they keep an old line for a short period of time. This gives MAC the upper hand with their customers, because they get several purchases out of one line of cosmetics. If the line isn't doing well, they come up with a new theme. Normally changing one's look is extremely risky, but for keeping up with trends and fashions, MAC manages to change their look while keeping the same brand namesake in tact. This is indicative of a stronger brand.

If there is a brand that can play with their own identity and get away with it, it would be MAC. While most cosmetic companies such as Maybelline, Revlon, Covergirl, etc. generally stay within the same confines as their original branding. They do not go outside the box to really set themselves apart from the norm. But that is their branding type. Though they don't call too much attention, they appeal to people who don't particularly want bright eyeshadow and lipstick, but everyday makeup. In their respects, they both accomplish their goals with their branding, but MAC has the freedom to do more with their identity to appeal to several different styles and age groups.

The Art of Minimalism

I stumbled across this package a while ago. At first glance, it was quite easy to distinguish what each of them were due to their shape, and the simple labels. The use of different finishes on the bottles makes all the difference. The labels reinforce the purpose of the different finishes, the opaque bottle being pure sake, the matte finished bottle is the refined sake, and the clear bottle is the ultra-refined sake. This is similar to when vodka brands put a little note on the labels that they are "triple distilled". Though this gets the point across, something minimalistic is sometimes a better approach to communication as a design.

Though both types of branding are effective in their own right, among a sea of brightly coloured  bottles and cans, this collection of bottles would stand out from the rest because of the lack of all of those things. This makes the minimalistic approach much more effective at times.

My Cuppa Tea

 Yesterday I visited the best tea store I have ever been to. Now typically I'm not a tea fanatic, I generally only like overly citrus flavoured teas. However, once I stepped into David's Tea (the uptown Waterloo location), I was blown away by just how much I wanted to just smell and touch everything! I am particularly partial to the colour blue, and all of their branding was absolutely amazing.
And blue. It's clean, colourful and playful. The overall setup and aesthetic made me go insane.
This is coming from someone who doesn't particularly like tea! As a graphic design student I was so excited about the branding and design of the store, but the store itself definitely matched it's amazing design system.

                                    

As I walked around, and looked at more of the elaborately designed labels and colourful tins of tea, I spent 45 minutes looking, smelling, touching, and exploring this little store. In theory, would it be because of the strong branding? If I had walked in to a poorly designed store, would I even bother with trying the tea? No. I would simply assume that the tea is just as bad as the design of the place. However, the reverse is also true. I also assume that the tea is just as good as the design (it was, but that's beside the point).

Overall, I suppose that this was a good experience as a designer-in-training, a perfect example of the fact that people do indeed judge a book by its cover. This is a perfect way to attract people to your particular brand. I assume that David's tea was attracting a younger audience with its playful and colourful displays, yet with a hint of sophistication, so between the ages of 18 and 30 is about where I would aim for. Clearly it's a powerful tool, simple stimulants and words are bound to attract certain audiences. Which is quite amazing if you think about it. A little side note, I left with two tins of tea.

Oh the Simplicity

After exploring the world of packaging, via sites like the dieline, I have found a new respect for well designed packaging. However, sometimes these packages are more form than function, and therefore lose its original purpose. However, I believe the above example is absolutely amazing in terms of both.

It's amazing how simple the idea of this vodka bottle is, yet it is ingenious in every right. The simple action of a katana cutting the bottle--named Samurai for the effect--makes this design interesting and original. Though it is difficult to do, sometimes simplicity is the easiest approach to design, which is something that some of us forget.

The package of the bottle is also quite elegant and original, with the cut between the bottle lining up on both the package and the bottle itself. It brings back the interaction between the package and the product, directly relating to each other. This is also sometimes forgotten in packaging design, when the package is simply used to sell the product, without relating to it or typing each together.

Overall, I know for a fact that I would buy this over other brands simply because of the original idea of the package and the refined, elegant look to it just screams classy.